Evil is as Evil does'
by EternalVoid
Summary: Naruto/Overlord idea with some mild twists and retakes.


Naruto Overlord Idea

Prologue

_Evil is just a point of view ~ Anne Rice_

The stygian sky was so clouded over and covered that not even the light of the full moon pierced its murkiness. A sudden flash of lightning, followed briefly by rolling thunder, illuminated the underside of the clouds, briefly forming an inverted landscape and revealing the destruction below.

Smoke and dust choked the air making it hard to breath and even harder to see. The thick black smoke billowed from a burning apartment block, reaching up high into the cloudy night sky as if wishing to become part of the dark solid mass above itself. The screams of civilians and emergency staff alike echoed around the streets as they all scurried around before they were lost in the echo of another flash of lightning and roll of thunder. When the flash had faded, all it left was a memory in the eye, and the flickering flames of the burning apartment.

In a narrow alley next to the burning building he struggled to breathe; the fresh blood slowly flowing from his battered form glinted and flashed in the light from his burning apartment and the lightning overhead. The heat washing over him from the flames of the building barely registered except for soft waves of warmth characterised by flashes of light and a dull thud, like a cannon far off in the distance.

Even pain was a foreign concept to him now, his senses so dulled by blood loss as they were, and even thought was a struggle. He could barely hear anything from having been so close to the blast that had occurred in his own apartment block. He chuckled gently, causing blood to trickle down his chin, as he thought about the looks on the faces of all those people as he'd set off the explosives.

Instantly the entire apartment complex, all four floors and nineteen rooms, most still with furniture and fabric in, had been engulfed in flames. He had survived by jumping out of a second floor window. He chuckled mirthlessly again as he thought about that.

However, in a brief lull of noise, where silence finally took hold of the air, save for the crackling of the fire, he found that he could hear tapping, soft and rhythmic. He cracked open his eyes despite his weakened body and looked in front of him. Before him stood a creature he had never seen before nor seen fit to imagine. It was hunched over and was about three feet tall as it was. Its skin was coloured a dark brown, like tanned leather, only it looked like it'd been left there for too long, it's skin wrinkly like some sort of chestnut.

It moved forwards slowly but steadily, with a slight limp aided by the walking stick until eventually is stood before Naruto. It's sharp eyes bored into Naruto's own blue ones that, despite him already knocking on deaths door, stared back with equal intensity. A long silence permeated the ash filled air, punctuated only by the distant thud of more explosions and the faint screaming of emergency staff. Eventually the aged creature moved back slightly

"Very well" it said as if agreeing with a voice only it could hear. It then proceeded to bow, as well as it could, to Naruto who was too tired to even blink in response "greetings, master" it said before making a motion to other creatures in the dark background. Naruto was left only with the sense of being lifted into the air before he finally passed out.

Chapter One

Far away from Konoha, though still lying in the boarders of Fire country, sat a ruined tower. Its walls, which once gleamed and pulsed with energy, were now engulfed by vines and moss, as the earth tried to reclaim what rightfully belonged to it. Holes in the walls and the erosion on the surface spoke of its age. What had once been a great citadel and the place of many people's nightmares, and some people's dreams, was now simply an eroded monument to that time, like a great tombstone.

It was here, in the upper part of the great structure that Naruto awoke to strange sensations; the comfort of whatever he was sleeping on, the scent of stone and the chilliness of the air, as well as the high pitched clambering coming from outside wherever he was.

He awoke suddenly, eyes snapping open as he sat up sharply. He looked around the room, his mind running a mile a minute as it desperately attempted to recall what had happened to lead him here. The room around was Spartan to say the least, I was stone all around, walls, floor and ceiling all comprised of some sort of dark stone. The only noticeable pieces of furniture in the relatively large room were the bed he was on; despite the fact it was a single size, and a large wardrobe made of a dark wood. Other than that though, the room was stark bare and felt empty, as if the insides had been ripped out .

Naruto looked down at himself as if suddenly realising something and found that he was no longer wearing that hideous orange jumpsuit he had had all his life with the spiral sewn onto the back. Instead he was without a shirt and only had some, rather comfortable, pyjama bottoms on that he suspected were made of very fine cotton, they were clean, though slightly worn. He frowned to himself as the situation only seemed to grow stranger.

He stepped out of the bed, wincing at the pain that shot through his body despite the lack of wounds on his body. The cold floor barely registered to his mind as he walked over the wardrobe to the side of the bed. He opened its carved doors and was slightly surprised at the fact the hinges didn't squeak at all.

He looked inside and raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, inside hung some sort of armour that had never seen before, it was built of what seemed to be tanned leather. He ignored the strangeness of the situation once again and proceeded to place the armour on his person, but before placing the underlay shirt on he stopped, noticing a mirror on the inside of the wardrobes door. He turned to it and looked at himself.

The years of living on the streets had not left him starving, despite what might be expected, instead the years of running, hiding and other such activities, including some training regimes had left him with a slim but athletic build, built for speed more than anything. He lifted his hand up slowly to trace a few scars on his chest, his eyes darkening as his mind went back.

He quickly brought himself out of it however, and proceeded to change into the clothes he had apparently been left with. So far he was quite confused, whoever or whatever had brought him here didn't want him dead, that much was for certain; otherwise they wouldn't of wasted time healing him. On top of that they had left him armour and a sword that had most likely been swiped from one of the Chunin's that had died that night. He decided not to worry too much and instead walk out of the room and see what exactly was going on outside that was causing such noise.

He walked out onto what looked like some kind of half finished construction site. Wooden beams and scaffolding were everywhere he looked, half of it was at an angle and none of it looked safe to use. The room, was vast and had sizeable holes in its walls, the roof looked only half finished and pieces of rubble lay everywhere.

The entire room was open to the elements, and evidently it had rained the night before, as puddles of water now sat all around the...hall, for now that he took a closer look at things he could see that the area was quite large, easily 9 metres both ways and with a couple of doors leading to, he supposed, other rooms. The stone was the same dark colour as the ones that made up the room he had just walked out of. The roof was vaulted high above him, though the supporting pillars were no longer there, only holes in the floor where they once sat were left. He could smell the scent of age this place held, despite the fresh smell of the newly fallen rain.

He was brought out of his musings when he heard the soft tapping of a walking stick against the stone. He turned to face the strange creature he had met a few nights ago as it walked up to him. Naruto found his hand automatically resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist, while he might of only had the most basic training in how to wield a blade he still felt calmed by its presence under his calloused hand

"Greetings Master" the thing said, inclining its head towards Naruto. He raised an eyebrow slowly in a questioning manner. "I am certain that you have many questions regarding this situation, please, follow me down" it said, motioning for Naruto to follow it as it made for some stairs on one side of the room.

Naruto followed it cautiously but curiously, looking around him all the while. The staircase was wide enough for one person to stand in comfortably and was, as was everything else in this place, built of some dark stone that didn't even look worn.

Eventually they stepped out of a bolted door into a great hall. The entire room looked like a hurricane had come through it, holes in the walls that obviously hadn't been formed naturally, scorch marks on the ground and great gorges in the stone were easy to see. As with the room above the supporting pillars were gone, scattered around, the statues that had perhaps lined the sides of the great hall were missing, only pieces of limbs were left lying on the floor.

Scaffolding was also everywhere, only this time Naruto could see small brown creatures scampering around the place.

"Please, this way" the creature spoke to him again, motioning for him to sit on what could only be a throne which, despite obvious damage, was the most intact thing in the hall, save for maybe the floor and walls. The creature stood in front of him and began speaking

"My name is Gnarl, master, head of the brown minion hive and servant to the last overlord" it said, bowing again. Naruto blinked before sitting forwards on the huge throne, the arms alone were large enough for someone to sit on

"...okay then, Gnarl..." Naruto began "exactly what are you and those other...things behind you?" he asked

"We are minions master" Gnarl responded "created by the very first Overlord to aid him in his dark and nefarious plans" it said and Naruto nodded, taking in the information

"Then, explain to me, what, or who, are the Overlords?" he asked and the minion shifted slightly before responding, just as one of the other minions behind in somehow slipped on a smooth piece of stone and went tumbling into a piece of scaffolding, causing it to fall down on top of its head.

"The Overlords are creatures of darkness, master, their blood line was started by the first Overlord, and ever since the Overlords have sort the destruction of the forces of light" it said, saying the word 'light' like it actually caused it pain. Naruto frowned and folded his hands in his lap

"How?" he asked simply, the minion once again shifted before answering

"By gathering an army, dark one, amassing an army of minions and other creatures of the night and then marching out to lay waste to the forces of light" it said. Naruto simply sighed and leaned back

"So in other words I am one of these 'Overlords', and I am to lead an army against the forces of 'light' with the aid of 'dark' forces and bring them to their knees for no particular reason?" he asked the minion in front of him who kind of half nodded

"Pretty much sire, you see, the forces of light have always thought of themselves as being superior to all other races, as such they branded these races as 'evil' and then, during the 'Great Cleansing', wiped out tens of thousands of these creatures" Gnarl explained to Naruto who frowned before sighing

"Very well then, since I'm here, why don't you show me around Gnarl?" he said, the minion nodded

"Very well sire, I shall explain more as we go along" it said before shuffling of with Naruto behind it.

"We minions, as I already said, were created by the first Overlord" Gnarl explained as they descended some more stairs only to emerge onto another floor, only this one was a long corridor with rooms branching off on either side

"This is the servants quarters and the kitchen sire" Gnarl explained to him as they walked through it slowly, giving Naruto ample time to look and observe. "But as I was saying sire, there are four types of minion" he said as the passed the kitchen, looking in quickly Naruto saw that much of the equipment that must of once resided in there was now gone.

"Browns like the one's upstairs are your main force, they can take quite a bit of damage and are surprisingly strong, next is the blues, who can heal and use magic, then comes the reds, who are immune to fire and can throw it at their enemies, then finally we have the greens, they reek but are the assassins, easily sneaking up behind people to slit their throats" Gnarl continued to explain as they walked down still further to another floor

"The General quarters sire, for those who will aid you in leading your armies, or for guests" it said as they moved through again. This floor had fewer rooms but each one was much more luxurious than the ones upstairs, or at least they should be.

"When the last Overlord was killed, a few hundred years ago, we minions were scattered, some of us remained to wait for our next lord but many hid themselves in the world for fear of discovery. Those hives need to be recovered if we are to have much hope of winning any sort of battle against those accursed fools" Gnarl said as they descended to yet another floor

"This is where the armoury and treasury is sire" Gnarl said as they quickly moved through, there was no gold behind the massive treasury door, but armour and weapons were still present in the armoury.

"Do you know where they went?" Naruto asked and Gnarl shook his head

"No sire, however when they sense you nearby they will most likely seek you out by themselves" he explained

"Why is everything so bare here Gnarl?" Naruto asked at last, tired of seeing only stone

"When the last Overlord was killed, looters took much of what was in the tower, anything that wasn't secured magically to the tower they took, the three main smelters, the gold, everything" he said, waving his bony arm around as if to emphasise his point. Then they came to something, it was a kind of stone circle, only it was slightly raised and surrounded by strange symbols carved into its surface

"This is a Cullis gate master, used to teleport almost instantly to a location, there is one in the throne room and on the floor below us, the one below us only goes to the throne room and is the only way up there, this one will take us down to the area below the tower" Gnarl explained to Naruto who just nodded to show he understood before walking onto the platform.

There was a strange sensation, as if his whole body was tingling, though it was not quite unpleasant it was not exactly agreeable either. And suddenly he found himself looking at some great workshop.

It was built into a large cavern; the areas where the smelters had once sat were pretty clear to see as great empty spaces in the room.

"As you can see sire" Gnarl said, motioning around the room as he did so "without the smelters we can't make any new armour or weapons, either for the minions or for your own dark self, but without the reds to run the smelters even if we did have them they'd be useless to us" he told Naruto before they moved on.

They went down again, down some rather steep and slippery steps behind an ornate stone door with carvings of minions all over it. Once inside Naruto was slightly astonished. The cavern was huge, stretching far away, much farther than the edge of the tower.

"Wow" was all Naruto could say to the sheer size of the cavern before them. Gnarl drew his attention to the areas that the minions inhabited and Naruto was again surprised to see the variety of environments. The browns hive sat in a rocky area with nothing to special about it save for its dryness, the area the red hive was meant to sit hand lava and was scorching hot, the blues was damp and water filled, and finally the greens was filled with what looked like jungle vegetation.

"Certain looks impressive" Naruto muttered, Gnarl nodded

"Yes indeed, beyond this place however, sitting below this cavern and vast cave system, sits your family crypt, ghosts wonder in there, and not all of them are from your family" Gnarl said, and Naruto made a mental note to avoid that area like the plague for now.

He sat down on the throne again and, now that he was no longer worried about being attacked from every angle, took a slow look around the chamber. Directly in front of him, down the long hallway, he could see the sky as a balcony sat behind what he had first assumed to be a simple pool of clear water, however he'd realised that it was, in fact, the third Cullis gate in the tower, and that rainwater had simply gathered in there after the storm a few days ago. To his left a hole in the wall sat, allowing him an unobstructed view of the sky beyond the tower, the few smattering of clouds on the sky's azure surface were faint and wispy, providing no evidence of the storm that had passed only a couple of nights beforehand.

The hall itself, now that he looked properly, was once magnificent, with statues of warriors and the like lining not just the walls, but also each pillar. And then each pillar would have reached high to touch the ceiling that was vaulted high above them. The whole ordeal was to inspire awe and, Naruto suspected, fear into whoever approached the throne of the dark one.

The few pillars that had survived held only faint impressions of the gold leaf that had once lined their surfaces at the top and bottom joints, the scratch marks along them all the evidence Naruto needed that someone had scrapped most of it off, one of the pillars still had a banner pole attached, though now only tattered rags were attached to it, the colour having long since been washed away.

The air in the hall was crisp and clean, thanks mainly in part to the many holes in the walls. Naruto had looked at the edges of a few of them and found that in some areas the rock had actually been melted and deformed. He has shivered at the thought of such power simply being thrown around like it was water.

He was sitting on the throne while facing Gnarl, a great many things needed to be done in order to achieve their ultimate goal

"Sire, before we even think about going out there and finding our allies, I'm afraid that your combat skills will need to be vastly improved and you will have to learn at least some basic magic's, though unfortunately I have extremely limited knowledge in that regard, and we are also missing the Tower Heart, the seat of the Overlords limitless mana reserves" he told Naruto who was listening calmly

"I'm all for getting stronger, however I must ask precisely how you plan on teaching me these things Gnarl" Naruto said as he stood and began to walk the length of the hall, towards the balcony on the far side

"Since I am fairly sure none of the minions know any specific styles of fighting, especially something that would benefit me" he continued as he reached the far end and put his arms on the balcony's rail and leaning on it while gazing towards the horizon and at the thick forest that surrounded the tower from all sides. The sun was beginning to set now, setting the sky alight with bright oranges that seemed to make the few wispy clouds look like faintly burning embers.

"That problem can be easily remedied sire, your home village has many...scrolls on fighting and such does it not?" Gnarl responded and Naruto hummed in thought

"Indeed it does Gnarl, but you know very well I would not trust the browns to be smart enough to get in there, get the scrolls, and get out, all without being detected" Naruto explained to the head minion who looked thoughtful for a moment. A soft breeze suddenly sprung up and Naruto sighed and leant his head back as the cool breeze seemed to caress his face

"Then perhaps you should guide them sire" Gnarl said at length, Naruto opened his eyes slowly before looking down at Gnarl

"In my old apartment, the one I burned down, there should be a lockbox, with a rather large lock attached to it, in there are scrolls I have found, begged, borrowed or stole over the years" Naruto told the minion master

"How sire?" the minion asked, looking slightly confused and bewildered

"A few years ago, after another attack on my life, an elite ninja in my village made himself known to me, he taught me a great many things, ranging from survival and cooking to armed and unarmed combat, he subsequently died on a suicide mission that he volunteered for" Naruto explained to the minion master

"Hmm" Gnarl responded, looking thoughtful

"So, tell the minions to go to the rubble of my apartment and find this lockbox and bring it to me, then we can begin the training. It's on the outskirts of the town so there shouldn't be any problem, even for that bunch, and their small enough to not show up on the barrier scanner they have" Naruto told the minion master who nodded before bowing

"At once sire" it said before walking off while shouting at the other minions. Naruto turned back over to the view and looked out towards the horizon, where the town of Konoha could just barely be seen against the setting sun. Naruto welcomed the coming night, closing his eyes as if to feel the encroaching darkness as he heard a small number of minions running around behind him as they 'suited up' for their mission.

When his eyes opened once again they were colder and more focused, something pulsed in his veins, like a desire to run and to hunt. He suppressed it, a habit of his from Konoha, when the night offered both safety and freedom to him.

"The minions are ready sire" Gnarl said from behind him, he got the subtle impression the minion master was bowing slightly

"Very good Gnarl, send them on their way and make it clear they should not be seen. When they return I believe we should start planning" Naruto said to the minion "but for now" he continued, sighing softly "I would like to have some time to myself" he said, the minion master seemed to nod, the rustling of the cloak that surrounded the creature all in information Naruto needed before it hobbled off, staff tapping rhythmically against the cool stone floor.

Naruto took a moment to slow his racing mind before beginning to think. He had been given something many people spent their entire lives to gain, an army of loyal followers, a small army at the moment admittedly, but nevertheless it was better than nothing. He wondered briefly about his future in this place. Gnarl had informed them that there had been a good many other Overlords before himself, but only perhaps three had truly successfully won against the forces of light, and claimed domination over the entire world and all races bound within it.

The first overlord had succeeded, only to be killed in old age. The second had grown overconfident and had been killed by his own slaves, and finally the last one had done very well. Alas he had died of the one thing not even the most powerful mage can hold back, time. He had died and, with no one fit to replace him, the empire he had built had fallen into chaos and disorder.

But that was long gone now. He was the first in almost two hundred years; the minions had slept during that time. Naruto shook his head slowly, scattering those thoughts back into the foggy recesses of his brain. He focused instead on the immediate future and of the difficulties and trials it presented him with.

The minions sent to retrieve the lockbox arrived back at the tower, via a Cullis gate located, apparently, deep within the forest of death. Naruto had been standing by his throne when they'd arrived, two carrying it between them. The box was quite something, wooden but lined with metal internally it was secured with a large padlock that Naruto knew even the most skill ninja's found hard to crack. The wood itself was dark and onto it carvings of two dragons engaged in some epic battle were placed on the lid. Naruto turned to it

"Good work, place it in front of me" Naruto said, pointing to a spot in front of him. He was well aware that while the minions were highly durable and capable in a fight, their common sense and general intelligence left something to be desired.

They placed the, rather heavy, lockbox down on the ground in front of Naruto carefully, not willing to risk Naruto's wrath just yet. Naruto took a key out from around his neck where it had hung on a chain, and opened to lock. I fell off with a loud thunk and Naruto flipped the lid open. Inside lay over a dozen scrolls, each quite sizeable and filled with, not techniques, but physical training methods from armed to unarmed.

Naruto looked at the box for a time before shutting it once again

"Good, they are all here and the wax seals are fully intact, so at least the fire did not damage them. Then, Gnarl, I suggest we get to planning this campaign of ours, the best we can at the moment at any rate" Naruto told the aging minion who seemed to be quite eager at this prospect of finally planning something 'evil' as he would say.

The other minions were cleared out with a single hand motion by Naruto leaving him and the old minion alone to talk.

"Well then Gnarl, since you are well versed in this type of thing maybe you should tell me what you think" Naruto said while motioning for the minion to speak as he settled on his throne, sighing as he did so, leaning forwards with his elbows on his knees and one hand under his chin as he watched the minion take a breath before speaking

"Sire, at this moment in time you are not strong enough to face even half the creatures you may end up facing when we begin, I do not know about your mind and tactical ability but we can easily rectify that if it turns out to be a problem" Gnarl told Naruto who nodded

"While I agree with that completely Gnarl, my concerns lay more on exactly what it is we will be doing once my 'training' is complete" he said, leaning back against the throne, the cold stone sending small shivers down his back.

"Well sire, the first order of business I should imagine will be the restoration of the tower, including getting back the tower heart and our three smelters" Gnarl said, Naruto was watching the minion, his eyes slightly glassy as thoughts ran a mile a minute behind them

"And how exactly do you plan on finding these items that could be anywhere between here and the far western sea" Naruto said, his voice was even with a touch of humour to lighten it

"The tower heart pulses with magical energy even after all these years, it will react to your presence and so you should be able to find it with relative ease once your grip of magic is good enough, the smelters also use magic, but there's no guarantee that they'll be anywhere near here" Gnarl admitted, Naruto sighed before standing slowly

"Well, something to worry about later, first things first then" he said before turned around and walking back up the stairs

"I will see you tomorrow Gnarl" he said as he ascended the stairs

"Goodnight sire" he heard Gnarl's voice as he went to bed.

THE END


End file.
